Autoimmune Phenomena in Pernicious Anaemia: Gastric Antibodies

Abstract

The presence of an inhibitor of intrinsic factor activity was demonstrated in the sera of some patients with pernicious anaemia who had never been treated with hog intrinsic factor (Taylor, 1959b; Schwartz, 1960). It was proposed that this inhibitor, which was precipitated with the serum globulin fraction, might be an autoantibody. This supported the earlier suggestions, based upon the histological appearances of the gastric mucosa, that pernicious anaemia might have an autoimmune component (Taylor, 1959a). Initial attempts to determine the nature of the serum factor by precipitation and tanned red-cell techniques were inconclusive (Taylor and Boyden, quoted by Schwartz, 1960; Abels et al., 1962).